rabble.ca - students' movementhttp://rabble.ca/category/tags-issues/students-movement
enTalk: Quebec student strike and anti-austerityhttp://rabble.ca/whatsup/quebec-student-strike-and-fight-against-austerity
<div class="field field-name-field-eventstart field-type-date field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - <span class="date-display-range"><span class="date-display-start">22:00</span> to <span class="date-display-end">23:30</span></span></span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/CharestHarper.jpg?itok=etGnsrLp" width="1180" height="600" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-22 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/education">Education</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>The Quebec student strike is inspiring people across Canada who would like to see a similar mass movement against austerity. How can we spread the Quebec spring? </p>
<p>Come to hear how the Quebec student strike was organized, the possibility of bringing the Quebec example to Toronto students and how we can expand the struggle into a broader fight against the austerity agenda.</p>
<p>Speakers:</p>
<p>Laura Dolan, Quebec student<br />Alastair Woods, York Federation of Students<br />Michelle Robidoux, Trade unionist/anti-war activist and member of International Socialists</p>
<p></p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-9 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/solidarity">solidarity</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/students-movement">students&#039; movement</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/austerity">Austerity</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/quebec-student-strike">quebec student strike</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15854">Maple Spring</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-23 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/regions/ca/on">ON</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-event-contact-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">U of T International Socialists</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-event-organization field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.socialist.ca" target="_blank">UofT International Socialists</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-event-email field-type-email field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="mailto:torontosocialists@gmail.com">torontosocialists@gmail.com</a></div></div></div>Wed, 20 Jun 2012 23:40:36 +0000torontosocialists93758 at http://rabble.caLove is the movement: It starts in Quebec, but it will not end here...http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ethan-cox/2012/06/love-movement-it-starts-quebec-it-will-not-end-here
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ethan Cox</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/This%20is%20not%20a%20student%20strike%2C%20it%27s%20a%20society%20waking%20up.jpg?itok=nKpAiYPg" width="1180" height="600" alt="" title="&quot;This is not a student strike: it is a society waking up&quot;" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>'Adapt or die' is the first law of the human race. It is by adapting to our circumstances that we have survived. But being an adaptable species has its downside. It makes us vulnerable to the myth of inevitability.</p>
<p>There are few better examples of the myth of inevitability than Hitler's thousand year reich. Why did otherwise decent people go along with the insanity of the Nazi regime? Because they believed its continued dominance was inevitable. It would carry on for a glorious thousand years under the glowing aryan sun. They could either accept it -- adapt to it -- or die. Being an adaptable species, many chose the path of least resistance.</p>
<p>Of course there was nothing inevitable about it, and the thousand year reich died cowering in a bunker a scant few years later.</p>
<p>I don't bring this up to draw any parallels. Little on this earth is comparable to Hitler, but it illustrates the fact that even the most perverse of regimes can seem reasonable, and more importantly, inevitable, from the inside.</p>
<p>That's where we are today: stuck in a broken political and economic paradigm to which we submit because it seems inevitable.</p>
<p>The great American writer<a href="http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/72-72/11755-focus-canadas-casserole-movement-is-ours" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Chris Hedges situates the current social movement in Quebec</a> in the same place I do: on the front line of a global struggle against a broken system. He also posits that the failure of mass movements against this broken system will lead to the rise of the truly violent and extreme.</p>
<p>"If these mass protests fail, opposition will inevitably take a frightening turn. The longer we endure political paralysis, the longer the formal mechanisms of power fail to respond, the more the extremists on the left and the right -- those who venerate violence and are intolerant of ideological deviations -- will be empowered. Under the steady breakdown of globalization, the political environment has become a mound of tinder waiting for a light."</p>
<p>I don't think I really need to explain what's wrong with our system. You already know. You may justify it, accept it or ignore it, but you know all is not right in our inequitable world.</p>
<p>Over the last 50 years, and particularly during the last decade or two, the rich and powerful have increased their power, wealth and influence exponentially, while life has gotten harder for everyone else. The common good has capsized under the drive to transfer our resources to a small elite.</p>
<p>Increasingly, institutions designed to serve the interests of the many -- government, media and police to name a few -- have become defenders of a status quo which works only for the minority. The same minority which, not so coincidentally, bankrolls the political campaigns, owns the media and dominates the realm of "public" opinion. We have all the trappings of democracy and free speech, without the substance of either.</p>
<p>In the words of Noam Chomsky, "The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum."</p>
<p>The most dire and existential threat to anyone in the public eye is to appear "unreasonable." We self censor, to an appalling degree, lest we be judged to have set foot outside of this narrow spectrum.</p>
<p>Many a good person crafts their message to remain "reasonable," to avoid the fate of Quebec students, who are "naive, unrealistic, stupid, selfish, entitled spoiled brats" as you may have heard.</p>
<p>We know instinctively that something is wrong, deeply wrong, but we agree to limit our opposition to the playing field set out for us. It's a rigged game, and as soon as we accept to play within these limits, we condemn ourselves to defeat.</p>
<p>Within this narrow spectrum of debate, we are the unreasonable ones. "Greed is good!" as our state broadcaster Kevin O'Leary is fond of telling us. All power to the shareholders!</p>
<p>Within this spectrum love is a weakness, compassion a debilitating condition. Any measure, however minor, to redress the inequality of our society or provide a social good equally to all is dismissed as communism.</p>
<p>Don't like it? Move to Cuba. Because the only alternative to the brutality of today's "modern" capitalism is communism. By relying on a bipolar view of political organization, we become convinced that whatever the ills of our system, the alternative is worse.</p>
<p>Think we should invest in education and hospitals, rather than fighter jets and corporate tax cuts? You are simply too stupid to understand the complexities of our global economy.</p>
<p>Want to talk about the "they" who control power and money in our society? You must be a conspiracy theorist, as if there was some amorphous "they" pulling the strings! It is laughable!</p>
<p>Because it is ridiculous to identify the 0.4 per cent of the world's population who control 38.5 per cent of the world's wealth, and assume that they will use the power they wield to protect a system which benefits them greatly.</p>
<p>Preposterous to assume Rupert Murdoch isn't the only media mogul influencing the editorial line of the media properties they own to maximize their profits. Even though they have a legal obligation to their shareholders to do just that.</p>
<p>If we suggest that those in power are short sighted to a fault, oblivious to the destruction of our world, and even the future prosperity of our current system, we must be stupid, or crazy, or both. It's not as if shareholders care more about this year's profits than long term sustainability, or as if politicians care only about their re-election, and the money that requires, right?</p>
<p>Our world is upside down, and somehow we have been convinced that walking on the ceiling is normal.</p>
<p>But this unsustainable balance of power is a house of cards, a carefully maintained illusion which depends entirely on our subservience to it. If we walk away from our televisions, break the bonds of our isolation and talk to each other about our dreams, our desires, we realize we are neither alone, nor crazy.</p>
<p>This realization is the most remarkable aspect of the social movement unfolding in Quebec, and the sense of community it has brought about.</p>
<p>From Rimouski to Trois Rivieres, from Montreal to Laval, the casseroles pot banging protests have broken our isolation, introduced us to neighbors we never knew we had, and gotten us talking about what kind of society we want to see.</p>
<p>They have brought us into the streets, and given us a taste of the incredible power we wield when we work together.</p>
<p>The students are not selfish. On the contrary they have sacrificed their own semesters for the well being of future generations. They have initiated a broad social conversation about our priorities, our goals.</p>
<p>When we have that conversation, we inevitably come to the conclusion that we need change. And the desire for change is an incendiary threat to the powers that be.</p>
<p>This is why we have been so viciously vilified by a media elite who feel their control slipping. What is happening in Quebec is a serious challenge to the status quo, and the pundits who have spent months aiming their most vicious invective at this movement cannot understand how it stands, unbowed, to fight another day.</p>
<p>Last Saturday I spent the day escorting an independent documentary filmmaker and activist from Toronto around to a couple of the protests. We talked for hours about protest, and solidarity and the possibility of a better world. She asked how this movement carried on, and had not yet been beaten into submission or forced into compliance as so many others are.</p>
<p>We agreed that perhaps it was the joy, the love, the community and the solidarity in our streets which had struck a nerve.</p>
<p>As many reasons as there are to be angry, maybe people need a reason to be hopeful. Perhaps Jack Layton was onto something with his message of "love, hope and optimism."</p>
<p>We need a movement not of anger, which discourages and demoralizes us in the face of a Sisyphian struggle, but of love and hope.</p>
<p>Our greatest weapon is our love. A journalist today asked what made people return to the street each night, often for five or six hours at a stretch. What gave people the physical strength to do that?</p>
<p>I don't believe it's anger, or rage, although that is certainly part of it. When you walk in our streets, when you see the grey hair and the strollers, when you see your hope, your joy and your love reflected in the brilliant smiles on each face you pass, when you realize that you are not alone, it does something to you.</p>
<p>We are in the street not for ourselves, but for each other. The intoxicating realization that together, we have the power to build the world we want to see is like a drug. The realization that this upside down world is no more inevitable than the thousand year reich is empowering, and floods us with more strength than we ever knew we had.</p>
<p>My filmmaker friend has a tattoo on her arm which reads "love is the movement." She says it speaks to the fact that we all do what we do out of love. Love for each other, love for the planet, love for the generations to come.</p>
<p>The phrase has stuck with me in the days since, tugging away at my brain. Our love is our strength. We are not so far gone, we are not so lost that we have stopped caring about each other.</p>
<p>Our love is our most potent weapon, and the one our enemies cannot understand, or defeat. Contrary to what we are taught, we are not motivated solely by self-interest. We are in this for each other, we just forget that fact sometimes.</p>
<p>We are at a moment of great possibility, of great promise. But it is also a moment of great danger. This is our chance to clean up the mess we have made, but if we fail, yet again, we risk the spiral of violence Hedges describes.</p>
<p>Far from inevitable, our system is profoundly unsustainable. In its slavish adherence to the mantra of greed, it grows uncontrollably, beyond the limits of what it can control.</p>
<p>This system will come apart at the seams, and we must step in and fix it before it blows up. Not for ourselves, but for each other, and for our children.</p>
<p>Hedges concludes: "There still is time to act. There still are mass movements to join. If the street protests in Quebec, the most important resistance movement in the industrialized world, spread to all of Canada and reach the United States, there remains the possibility of hope."</p>
<p>In 72 hours, the idea of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/306990322722976/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Casseroles Night in Canada </a>spread to over 70 locations across Canada and internationally. One week later casseroles took place in over 125 locations around the world. From Paris to Montevideo, Brussels to New York.</p>
<p>Call it austerity, call it insanity, but our system is broken. From one corner of the globe to the other, this knowledge unites us.</p>
<p>Quebec is our beachhead, our inspiration. It starts here, but it will not end here. Be brave, be bold, be loving, be joyful. Now is our moment, we may not get another one.</p>
<p>For my brothers and sisters here in Quebec: ne lache pas! The whole world is watching, and taking strength from your courage. As I write these words I am watching massive police brutality in our streets on CUTV, whose camera crew was attacked, yet again, and forced off air. Stay strong, stay united and keep fighting. Your sacrifices, your injuries, are not in vain.</p>
<p>They beat you, ridicule you, harangue you and mock you because you're right. And because you're winning.</p>
<p>We all struggle for a better world in our own way. If we are to succeed we need the realization that our disparate gripes have a common cause. We need a single, unified movement of resistance and we need it right now, not a moment later.</p>
<p>It starts with you. Grab a pot, a spoon and step outside. Talk to your neighbors, dance in the street. You have the power, and now is the time, for now is all the time there may ever be.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Please check out the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/306990322722976/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Casseroles Night in Canada Facebook page</a> for more information on how you can support Quebec's social movement, and protest Harper's budget at the same time! This Wednesday, everywhere in the world!</em></p>
<p><em>Follow me on Twitter, good judgement to the contrary, I do sometimes feed the trolls: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/EthanCoxMtl" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">@EthanCoxMTL</a></em></p>
<p><em>It's membership time. Cultivate Canada's media. Support rabble.ca. <a href="https://secure.rabble.ca/membership/signup.php" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Become a member</a>.</em></p>
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</p></div></div></div>Sat, 09 Jun 2012 07:12:16 +0000Ethan Cox93466 at http://rabble.caAfter the success of Casseroles Night in Canada: What next?http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ethan-cox/2012/05/casseroles-night-canada-clangs-its-way-across-country-and-beyond-so
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ethan Cox</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/keep%20calm%20and%20bang%20on.jpeg?itok=HXNUIrFN" width="1180" height="600" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>It started in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where the first clang rang out. From there it spread through the maritimes, to St. John's, Halifax, Moncton, and a half dozen other communities. By the time the last pot was dented, during a joyful march of over 1000 people through the rainy streets of Vancouver, over 20,000 Canadians had taken to the street and gotten their casseroles on.</p>
<p>But it didn't end there. In the wee hours of this morning, Eastern time, demonstrations were ongoing in Brussels, Paris and London <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEYX6TRtjcI&amp;feature=youtu.be" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[video]</a>. All boasting of crowds close to a thousand strong.</p>
<p>Earlier, a crowd of several thousand had taken to the streets of New York, bringing casseroles to the Big Apple, and Times Square. Smaller marches took place in Washington, D.C., Madison, WI, Little Rock AK and many other locations in the U.S.</p>
<p>Here in Canada, the largest march by far was held in Toronto, where five or six community casseroles merged into a crowd of between 5,000 and 10,000 people.</p>
<p>In over 70 locations, across Canada and throughout the world, people took to the streets with their metal pots and wooden spoons to voice their solidarity with Quebec's social movement, and their opposition to Bill 78. All organized, except Toronto, in a scant 72 hours, by way of a humble Facebook event.</p>
<p>On twitter, the hashtag #CasserolesNightinCanada became a trending topic in Canada, and my feed was full of expressions of solidarity from every part of the country, and grateful thanks from Quebeckers.</p>
<p>Last night Canadians, and their international allies, sent a message. A message that we will not be divided against each other. That language and location will not keep us apart. A message that we are all in this together.</p>
<p>As the wonderful Judy Rebick noted, <a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/judes/2012/05/building-links-love-and-solidarity-pots-and-pans" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">in a column here Tuesday</a>:</p>
<p><em>There are two solitudes but it is mostly because the governments and the media don't want the people of Canada and Quebec to really know what we have in common. Language is a barrier too and not enough of us are bilingual, especially in the rest of Canada. But now we have the language of video and pots and pans.</em></p>
<p>For me last night was a bridge, a love letter from the rest of Canada to Quebec. People here didn't know you cared. They didn't understand that you were following our struggle, and standing in solidarity with our cause. Some still may not, but many learned last night. It was a message received here in Quebec with shock, but also great happiness.</p>
<p>At the regular night march last night, which has departed from Place Emilie-Gamelin at 8:30 for 37 straight nights, much of the buzz was about what was happening in other parts of the country. People would look up from their phone to exclaim "There's even one in Kingston!" or pass a photo around of demonstrations in Toronto, or New York.</p>
<p>You gave us a boost, a shot of energy when we needed it most. This was only a begining, and there is much work left to be done, but what a glorious begining it was!</p>
<p>So after the success of last night, the question becomes, what next? The beauty of last night was its truly decentralized, and grassroots, nature. An idea was put out into the ether, and people from all over the world ran with it, and made it their own.</p>
<p>It was a truly organic outpouring of solidarity, which empowered people to create something beautiful in their community, and be the change they wish to see.</p>
<p>So what next is not up to me, or the other organizers. It's up to you. This is your movement, in your community. Never forget that.</p>
<p>So what I have for you today is a proposal, developed in collaboration with those who helped organize the national element of last night. I hope you like it! But if you don't, if going in a different direction makes sense for your community, if you want to modify it or change it, then by all means do so. You have the power.</p>
<p>We propose to continue Casseroles Night in Canada, and endevour to make it a weekly occurence. We have suggested the next one take place next Wednesday, June 6 at 8PM.</p>
<p>Some have suggested doing them more frequently, and if that makes sense for your community, go for it! Our feeling is that to maintain interest and energy, and to allow these casseroles to grow bigger with every outing, we should focus our energy on one day a week. This will give activists and organizers a week between actions to promote their local event, and expand its reach.</p>
<p>We would love to see the number of communities increase, and larger and larger crowds in each location. We can start small and build slowly until our casseroles are a roaring thunder across this land which cannot be ignored. Our challenge to you, if you choose to accept it, is to build on what you started last night, and bring even more people into the streets next week.</p>
<p>In Quebec, the largest demonstrations have been on the 22nd of each month. May 22 saw 400,000 to 500,000 take to the streets of Montreal. June 22 will likely be bigger still. Wouldn't it be great if we could take these 22 days to build towards a massive Casseroles Night in Canada to support the protest in Montreal on June 22?</p>
<p>We also propose that we add opposition to Harper's ominous omnibus budget bill to the existing message of solidarity with Quebec's social movement, and opposition to Bill 78. We think the budget is a critical concern for Canadians across the country, the most urgent and pressing threat facing us collectively, and at risk, if we can build loud and sustained opposition to it.</p>
<p>While the budget is an issue which unites us across the country, there are also more local issues which you may want to incorporate. If there is an important issue in your community, one which people are passionate about where you live, add it to the demands of your local action.</p>
<p>Casseroles are a tactic, they can be used to push for the change you want to see. In the country at large, but also in your community.</p>
<p>Together, we can bring the love, solidarity and community of our casseroles to every town, village and city in Canada. We have the power!</p>
<p>What happens next is up to us...</p>
<p><strong>To facilitate organizing a sustained movement, we have created a Facebook group <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/242330792546515/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[CLICK HERE]</a>, a fan page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CasserolesNightInCanada" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[CLICK HERE]</a> in addition to an event page for next Wednesday <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/306990322722976/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[CLICK HERE]</a>. Please join the group, like the page and RSVP to the event. </strong></p>
<p><strong>These pages can serve as the organizing hub where we can share our experiences and ideas</strong> <strong>and build this movement. But they only work if everyone is part of the discussion. Please share both of these as widely as you possibly can. Make it a point to share each of them on Twitter and Facebook at least once a day. <br /></strong></p>
<p>Facebook sadly no longer allows recurring events, which is why we need the fan page/group (To keep everyone together long term) and the event (to spread the word about next Wednesday). There is a group and a page to see which one works better at bringing people together and allowing communication.</p>
<p><em>[The attached video slideshow was created by the extraordinary EastVan Solidarité, an administrator of the national Facebook event, who stayed up all night to create this record of actions from coast to coast.]</em></p>
<p>Oh, and follow me on Twitter. I say stuff. A lot of stuff. <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/EthanCoxMtl" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">@EthanCoxMTL</a></p>
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</div></div></div>Thu, 31 May 2012 22:40:06 +0000Ethan Cox93248 at http://rabble.caIt starts in Quebec: Our revolution of love, hope and community http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ethan-cox/2012/05/it-starts-quebec-our-revolution-love-hope-and-community
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ethan Cox</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/casseroles.jpg?itok=uMPIXyHP" width="1180" height="600" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>In almost every report on the social movement now sweeping Quebec, including my own, words like conflict, crisis and stand-off figure prominently. Anger is omnipresent. The anger of protesters, the anger of government, the anger of those supposedly inconvenienced. Pundits scream about mob rule, anarchy in the streets and the dissolution of society as we know it.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, there is anger, present of course. But that is not what you see if you take to the streets, or watch <a href="http://www.cutvmontreal.ca/live" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">CUTV's live stream</a>. Pundits can't stop bemoaning the inconvenience to "ordinary" Montrealers posed by these protests. But I wonder, are there any "ordinary" Montrealers left to inconvenience?</p>
<p>As I write these words there are demonstrations going on in every neighborhood of Montreal. "Casseroles," where people leave their houses to bang pots in the street every night at 8:00 p.m., have led to marches everywhere. The police cannot keep up. Far flung suburbs like Vaudreuil and Île Perrot, the anglophone West Island and NDG, South Shore suburbs, Québec City, Sherbrooke, Gatineau, Rimouski, Trois Rivières and the list goes on. Some of these places have never seen a demonstration, certainly not since the days of the quiet revolution. Now their streets swell with hundreds, thousands.</p>
<p>The prevailing question in the media is, how do we end this? Supporters and opponents alike seek a "solution" to put an end to the "crisis". And we need one, those on the streets need to be heard. Actions need to be taken to address the demands of the masses. But what exactly is so bad about what is happening? Why do we need it to end so urgently?</p>
<p>As this movement goes on, and grows by leaps and bounds, it is increasingly clear that it is not a movement of anger, of rage or of hate. It is a movement of love, of community and of hope. People who would be alone in their houses watching TV take to the streets and march with neighbours they never knew they had. Back when we had real communities, they were driven by the coming together of neighbours each night. Instead of watching TV, we met in the street, we exchanged details of our day and we made plans for our future. Just as the "casseroles" cause us to do now.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most lasting effect of this movement will be to build stronger, more connected communities. Every day that it goes on, more of us meet in the street, build relationships and talk about what kind of a society we want.</p>
<p>This is what Charest is afraid of. This is what keeps the powerful awake at night. If we talk, if we exchange ideas and debate the future of our society, we will want to change it. And nothing terrifies the powerful more than a change to the system which gives them their power.</p>
<p>The most honest reason which can be given for why people are in the street is the simplest. We do not see ourselves reflected in our government. But we see ourselves, our concerns, our hope, our love and our aspirations, reflected in every smiling face we see on the street. For the first time in a long time we are having a real conversation about what kind of society we want. We're having it with each other, every night when we meet in the streets. And slowly, but surely, we are realizing that we have the power to make our dreams a reality.</p>
<p>Over at <a href="http://translatingtheprintempserable.tumblr.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Translating the Printemps Erable</a>, a superb volunteer collective dedicated to translating French articles about the movement into English, the administrator recently posted an <a href="http://translatingtheprintempserable.tumblr.com/post/23754797322/an-open-letter-to-the-mainstream-english-media" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Open Letter to the Mainstream English Media</a>. It is perhaps the best description of this incredible phenomenon I have yet seen. In it they bemoaned the coverage which focuses on anger, when what we see in the streets is love. They describe the nightly "casseroles" like this:</p>
<p><em>If you do not live here, I wish I could properly convey to you what it feels like . . . It is magic. It starts quietly, a suggestion here and there, and it builds. Everybody on the street begins to smile. I get there, and we all -- young and old, children and students and couples and retirees and workers and weird misfits and dogs and, well, neighbours --we all grin the widest grins you have ever seen while dancing around and making as much noise as possible. We are almost ecstatic with the joy of letting loose like this, of voicing our resistance to a government that seeks to silence us, and of being together like this. I have lived in my neighbourhoods for five years now, and this is the most I have ever felt a part of the community; the lasting impact that these protests will have on how people relate to each other in the city is deep and incredible.</em></p>
<p>The <a href="http://vimeo.com/42848523" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">video below</a> is a simple, black and white video of one night in the life of <em>nos casseroles</em>, but it has gone viral, encapsulating as it does the joy and togetherness of our movement.</p>
<p>We walk past each other every day, but we do not smile. We do not stop to talk, we do not connect. In these protests, in the breast of this movement, we are remembering what it is to work together to make our world a better place. We used to know, in some far distant past, but we have forgotten.</p>
<p>Many in this movement are mad at the media. But in many ways it is not the fault of the journalists, or the pundits who cling to the status quo like a drowning man grasps a life raft.</p>
<p>If you try to understand this movement through the lens of politics as usual, you are doomed to failure. This is a spontaneous, joyful uprising. It is not Astro Turfed, it does not depend on the media or the political parties, or even the unions or student groups for oxygen. It is a fire which has slumbered in our bellies for so long, silent and nearly forgotten.</p>
<p>What the critics and the pundits do not understand is that they are no longer in control. People will no longer nod and agree with their paper or their TV. They can diminish it, can under-report our numbers and exaggerate our violence, but it doesn't matter. Their words and their barbs cannot defeat the solidarity and love which flows through our streets each night.</p>
<p>People don't need the media to tell them what is happening outside their door. They can hear it. They can feel it. The genie cannot go back in the bottle. We are awake, truly awake for the first time in a long time. We will not go back to sleep.</p>
<p>I started to notice after the passage of Bill 78, and the mass demonstration of May 22, a change. Not only in the streets, but online. As the "casseroles" spread, so did their footprint on the social networks through which we express ourselves. Friends who had always hated protests, right wingers, misanthropes, apolitical types and everyone in between began to post pictures of themselves with pots and pans outside their house.</p>
<p>My Facebook feed, which is normally full of cute pictures and a hodge podge of random posts, unified. It coalesced in a way I had never seen before. I now notice, and am surprised, if I see a single post unrelated to this movement.</p>
<p>Twitter, which had largely been ignored by Francophone Quebeckers, is now swollen with tweets about the protests. The way we come together in the streets has spread to our online presence. We share and comment and talk. We come together as citizens of a community, galvanized by a common cause.</p>
<p>This movement may yet fail. It may be co-opted, or lose track of its goals. It may fizzle or be beaten, as so many other movements have been. But there can be no denying that something extraordinary is happening in Quebec.</p>
<p>If we, as a society, as a people, are to make a stand against the governments which cut taxes on the rich and corporations and then plead poverty as they dismantle our society, our communities, it will be here.</p>
<p>If a line in the sand will be drawn, it is here, in the streets of Quebec. The battle for a better world starts in this city, this glorious, madcap city whose <em>joie de vivre</em> flows through the veins of each and every one of us like a river.</p>
<p>Join us, speak your solidarity from the rooftops, call out our name. Because here in these streets, a revolution has started. A fire which burns for a better world.</p>
<p>Call me an idealist, call me a dreamer, call me anything you like. But this is a moment in time we will tell our children about. Together, we can start something here that spreads like wildfire across this continent. What happens next is up to us.</p>
<p>To paraphrase Robert Frost: Two roads diverged in the woods, and we -- we took the one less traveled on, and that has made all the difference.</p>
<p>_____________________________</p>
<p><strong>Casseroles Night in Canada</strong>:</p>
<p><strong>Wednesday night a huge "casseroles" demonstration has been called for people across Canada to show solidarity with the Quebec movement. At 8:00 p.m., wherever you are, go outside with a pot and a metal implement and make some noise. Bonus points for meeting up with neighbours while doing it.</strong></p>
<p><em><strong>UPDATE: Almost 20 cities have now organized rallies, with more popping up constantly. Thousands have confirmed their participation on the Facebook event and many mainstream media outlets are covering it. </strong></em></p>
<p><strong><em>Please click the Facebook link below and confirm that, wherever you are, you'll make some noise for Quebec at 8PM Wednesday. Invite all your friends and spread this as widely as possible. </em><br /></strong></p>
<p><strong>Twitter hashtag: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23CasserolesNightinCanada" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">#CasserolesNightinCanada</a></strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/420350397995306/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">National Facebook event</a> (details of meet ups, submit yours!) <br /></strong></p>
<p>Oh, and follow me on twitter for regualr updates: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/EthanCoxMtl" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">@EthanCoxMTL </a></p>
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</div></div></div>Sun, 27 May 2012 04:38:45 +0000Ethan Cox93136 at http://rabble.caAbout face in Quebec: New poll shows support for Charest's tuition increases has dropped 41 points in six dayshttp://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ethan-cox/2012/05/about-face-quebec-new-poll-shows-support-charests-tuition-increases
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ethan Cox</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/charest%20pants%20down.jpeg?itok=85xxku5c" width="1180" height="600" alt="" title="Charest&#039;s support is in the toilet..." /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Quebec is known for swift and drastic shifts of popular opinion. From the election of the first PQ government, to the rise of the ADQ and the Orange Wave, public opinion in this province is prone to sudden reversals.</p>
<p>The results of the most recent poll, an <a href="http://www.radio-canada.ca/sujet/Droits-scolarite/2012/05/25/001-sondage-crop-crise-etudiante.shtml" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">online survey of 1000 Quebecois </a>conducted between May 23 and 25 by CROP for Radio-Canada, seem to suggest we are in the midst of such a dramatic swing.</p>
<p>When <a href="http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/dossiers/conflit-etudiant/201205/18/01-4526881-sondage-crop-la-presse-les-quebecois-en-faveur-de-la-ligne-dure.php" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">CROP was last in the field</a>, on May 17 and 18, they found that a whopping 68% supported the government's proposed tuition increase, with only 32% supporting the students. The same poll found 66% supported a "special law" to help end the crisis.</p>
<p>The poll was roundly criticized for asking respondents about a law which had yet to be introduced, and was at that time an unknown quantity. Criticism was also levelled at its methodology. That poll, and the most recent one, were conducted using a representative online panel, which was not randomly selected and as such cannot be assigned a margin of error.</p>
<p>Fast forward six days, through a civil-liberties-crushing special law, <a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ethan-cox/2012/05/500000-streets-quebecs-students-are-winning" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">the largest protest in Canadian history</a>, and mass arrests of over 700 people, and the results are stunning.</p>
<p>The latest poll did not ask the same question, but instead asked who respondents felt was to blame for the crisis. 44% placed the blame on Jean Charest's ailing government, while only 36% blamed the students. On the question of what should be done with tuition fees, the poll found 45% supported indexing them to the cost of living, 13% thought they should be frozen at current levels and 11% thought they should be abolished. Only 27% thought they should be increased beyond inflation. Add that up and 70% of the population are now opposed to the Charest government's proposed increases.</p>
<p><strong>In a period of six days, support for the proposed increases to tuition has gone from 68% to 27%, a drop of 41 percentage points.</strong></p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the poll found that 60% were opposed to Loi 78, with 42% being strongly opposed. 30% supported the law, with 11% strongly supporting it. This is a drop of 36 percentage points in support for Loi 78, but given that the first poll was conducted before details of the law were public, that's not as surprising.</p>
<p>The poll also found that 49% believed mediation between the government and student federations was the best way to resolve the dispute, coming in far ahead of a new election, a moratorium or a summit on university financing.</p>
<p>When asked if the student federations and government had been negotiating in good faith, both received failing grades. 48% thought the government had been negotiating in bad faith, over 37% who disagreed, while 58% thought the same of student federations, with 26% disagreeing. 50% did not have faith in either the government or students to resolve the conflict, while 25% had more confidence in the government and 16% more faith in student federations.</p>
<p>Given that both sides have been adamant that they will not back down from their demands, this is hardly surprising.</p>
<p>A friend commented that this showed people "hated Charest, but hated the students more." I think he's off the mark. Although there is clearly a warranted pessimism that there will be a swift end to the strike, I imagine 9% more people have greater confidence in the government to resolve the issue because 70% now want the government to make major concessions. People expect the government to fold, and as such expect that this will lead to the resolution of the conflict.</p>
<p>I prefer to compare polls by the same company, because differences in methodology and questions can make comparison between comapnies difficult, but if we look at the <a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ethan-cox/2012/05/new-poll-bad-news-charest-his-battle-students" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Leger poll</a> done for the Journal de Montreal between May 19 and 21 (prior to the mass demonstration), it really demonstrates the trendline in this province.</p>
<p>The question asked was, given the positions of both sides ($1625 increase vs. freeze) do you support the students or the government? The poll showed an 18% shift in support from government to students over Leger's previous outing, ten days prior. However, it still left the government with 51% support, and the students with 43%.</p>
<p> <strong>The change from 51% supporting the government position to 27% is a drop of 24 percentage points. In four days. </strong></p>
<p>The Leger poll also found that 47% supported Loi 78, with an equal 47% opposing it. With 60% opposition, and 42% strongly opposed in the new CROP poll, we can see that opposition to the law has grown by 13 percentage points and crystalized. Those opposed tend to feel strongly about the subject, perhaps explaining the sudden popularity of the "casseroles" phenomenenon (Where Quebeckers in all parts of the province go outside each night at 8 PM to bang on pots and pans in opposition to the law)</p>
<p>Notwithstanding all the normal caveats about polls and their flaws, it seems clear that there is a seismic shift going on in Quebec right now. The introduction of Loi 78 was a political miscalculation of epic proportions. It contributed to hundreds of thousands pouring into the streets on Tuesday, and provoked the casseroles movement.</p>
<p>The protest and ongoing casseroles in turn sent a strong message to Quebeckers that all was not right. They demonstrated to those outside Montreal that this was no longer a student issue alone, but a social one which involved people of all ages. Then that crazy social solidarity I wrote about earlier this week kicked in, and people began to turn on the government en masse.</p>
<p>The CROP poll did not ask for voting intentions, but I will be interested to see if the next provincial poll shows improvement for the PQ, who originally proposed increasing tuition at the rate of inflation.</p>
<p>Assuming this is not a rogue poll, it seems clear that the Charest increase is dead in the water. Most Quebeckers now want an increase at the rate of inflation, if that. These numbers will put wind beneath the wings of tiring students, and indicate that the record for protest attendance set last Tuesday may be challenged sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>The open question now is, will Charest hunker down and defy public opinion in the face of what will certainly be growing protests? And if Charest does offer students an increase at the rate of inflation, does it resolve a conflict which has become about much more than tuition?</p>
<p>While this poll holds some negatives for the students too, Quebeckers rejection of both Loi 78 and the proposed increase will no doubt have many a glass lifting tonight wherever students and their supporters are gathered.</p>
<p>______</p>
<p><em>As Rabble.ca's newly minted Special Correspondent on the Quebec student strike, you'll be seeing me in these pages every few days with all the latest from Montreal's streets. For more frequent updates follow me on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/EthanCoxMtl" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">@EthanCoxMTL</a></em></p>
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</p></div></div></div>Sat, 26 May 2012 03:19:33 +0000Ethan Cox93123 at http://rabble.caPolice shoot explosives at student protesters' heads in Montrealhttp://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/2012/03/police-shooting-explosives-student-protesters-heads-montreal
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Scott Weinstein</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/default_images/rabble-filler-photo.jpg?itok=3JmBbChQ" width="1180" height="600" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p></p><p>I'm just back as a medic from the large student strike and anti-police brutality demonstration in Montreal where the cops were shooting exploding tear gas canisters and flash-bang grenades into crowds of people -- really irresponsible, criminal and injurious.</p>
<p>We know that protesters in the West Bank and Gaza have been killed and seriously injured after being hit by tear gas canisters and so-called crowd control projectiles -- so this alarm is not just about the chemical effects, but also the kinetic trauma cause by the shooting projectile or explosion.</p>
<p>I treated a student (on Alymer and Milton) who had a police tear gas canister explode when it hit his forehead. Fortunately, he was wearing goggles because he could have been blinded. His hair was singed from the explosion, and he had a superficial skin burn besides the cut and bruise on his forehead. His goggles were covered in chemical powder. I assume the canisters explode on impact (his head in this case) because besides the physical signs, he said it exploded when it hit him.</p>
<p>Ironically, he was telling high-school kids not to throw rocks because this was a peaceful demonstration, just before he got injured. The riot police chased a group of people up the street and shot two tear gas explosives into the crowd. These were not flash-bangs because the tear gas was stinging our eyes and I see the cloud.</p>
<p>(Those of you not from Montreal, a student may have been permanently blinded in one eye a week ago during a protest when hit by either a police flash-bang or a rubber "bullet" shot into the group of students. He was playing the harmonica at the time.)</p>
<p>Tonight, I heard at least six, if not eight of these explosions, and when I could see, they were exploding inside crowds of students. The last two explosions were when the riot police had surrounded a group of 50 or 100 students passively standing arm in arm, chanting, on rue Berri outside the Bibleoteque nationale (National Library). They then told them they were under arrest, and arrested them. It was surreal to see riot police running inside the Bibleoteque nationale.</p>
<p>I think us Montreal demo veterans need to somehow impress upon the powers that shooting explosives and projectiles into crowds of people is a criminal act of violence -- regardless of what the police say about less-than-lethal crowd control. We can see how the police are ratcheting up the use of dangerous weapons against protesters.</p>
<p>I don't know if this is directly related, but this is another reason to oppose the security agreements and co-operation between the Israeli Defense Forces who do this stuff all the time, and the Canadian police.</p>
<p><em>Scott Weinstein is a Montreal-based nurse. Video from yesterday's protest is available from the Montreal Gazette <a href="http://www.montrealgazette.com/videos/montreal-gazette/video.html?embedCode=FqNzEzNDr1DJoigEGVUejQUdWmu9YJd2" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br /></em></p></div></div></div>Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:51:54 +0000Campus Notes91261 at http://rabble.caQuébec students strike over tuition hikes http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/behind-numbers/2012/02/qu%C3%A9bec-students-strike-over-tuition-hikes
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Eric Martin</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/default_images/rabble-filler-photo.jpg?itok=3JmBbChQ" width="1180" height="600" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p></p><p>This week, there are more than 65,000 students on strike in Québec. University students, but also college-level students, are walking out of classrooms to reverse the 75 per cent raise in tuition fees over five years announced in the last provincial budget. In the space of a single week, the number of strikers has tripled, and more strike votes are set to take place at the end of February and the beginning of March. Québec is under strong pressure from its government and elites to catch up with Canada's average tuition fees and to raise the ratio of private funding in higher education institutions.</p>
<p><strong>A 75 per cent hike</strong></p>
<p>The hike announced in the last budget which Jean Charest's Liberal government prepared, the second since 2007, will bring tuition fees up to $3,793 per year: fees will have nearly doubled within the last decade. The objective is to catch up with the average Canadian tuition fees by 2020. The government has announced that it will improve the financial-assistance program, claiming that this will absorb the hike's negative socioeconomic impacts. Nonetheless, only students who are granted bursaries will be fully compensated, roughly 25 per cent of the student population. Those holding loans and those ineligible for financial aid will have to pay the full price.</p>
<p>The fee increase is not an isolated measure: it fits into a general shift in universities' sources of financing from public to private. Indeed, in a document appended to the budget, <a href="http://www.budget.finances.gouv.qc.ca/Budget/2011-2012/fr/documents/Education.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Un plan de financement des universités équitable et équilibré</a> [<em>A fair and balanced plan to fund universities</em>] (!!!), the government also advocates for an increase in charitable contributions from corporations and individuals. In addition, it encourages universities to develop more research partnerships with businesses and to generate marketable research and spin-offs.</p>
<p><strong>Students' strike movement</strong></p>
<p>A tactical escalation to get the government to cave in preceded the outbreak of the strike, but the former has <a href="http://www.globalmontreal.com/quebec+tuition+hikes+will+go+ahead+education+minister/6442585443/story.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">up until now turned a deaf ear</a>. Mobilization reached its climax on November 10, 2011 in a <a href="http://montreal.mediacoop.ca/video/35000-students-against-tuition-fee-hikes-quebec/8928" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">sizeable national demonstration</a> which brought together 35,000 protesters. The government's sternness compelled the student movement to strike. The <a href="http://www.bloquonslahausse.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">CLASSE </a>(Coalition de l'<a href="http://www.asse-solidarite.qc.ca/spip.php?page=accueil&amp;lang=fr" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante élargie</a>) proved to be the movement's initial driving force, demanding that the tuition-fee hikes be cancelled and advocating free education. The <a href="http://www.fecq.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ)</a> and the <a href="http://www.feuq.qc.ca/?lang=fr" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ)</a> are consulting their members and may eventually join in the strike movement. In the meantime, these twin federations have planned actions all across Québec and announced an upcoming <a href="http://cupwire.ca/articles/51015" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">national demonstration on March 22, 2012</a>.</p>
<p>Many labour unions and public personalities already <a href="http://www.journalmetro.com/linfo/article/1104552--les-etudiants-en-greve-prevoient-plus-d-appuis" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">support the students</a> (despite no reporting on the subject in English). Since the government has shown very little openness, the strike will likely extend into March, and even beyond. The movement is already battling police repression. Indeed, on February 17, the administration of the CÉGEP du Vieux-Montréal ordered a lock-out, hoping to keep striking students from having access to the college premises. The latter therefore started occupying the building, and the administration called the police to end the occupation. <a href="http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120217/mtl_cegep_protest_120217/20120217/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Thirty-seven students were arrested</a>. The Fédération québécoise des professeurs d'université (FQPPU) has <a href="http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/todays-paper/Students+strike+gaining+strength/6182418/story.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">protested police action against peaceful students</a>. Incidentally, the Québec government intends to <a href="http://www.cjad.com/CJADLocalNews/entry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10350383" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">force professors to teach despite the strike</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Documentation and information</strong></p>
<p>In addition to numerous studies on free education and university governance, the <a href="http://www.iris-recherche.qc.ca/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Institut de recherche et d'informations socio-économiques (IRIS)</a> has produced a free explanatory booklet (also translated into <a href="http://www.iris-recherche.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Brochure-English-web.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">English</a>) to debunk myths circulated by right-wing discourse favouring tuition-fee hikes. IRIS researchers took part in more than 50 conferences or debates held in educational institutions, including in remote areas of the province (Gaspésie, Abitibi, etc.). Moreover, the Montréal-based publishing house LUX has brought out <a href="http://www.luxediteur.com/content/universite-inc" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><em>Université Inc.</em></a>, which I have co-written with my colleague Max Ouellet. It has become a reference book for many student strikers.</p>
<p>The bulk of IRIS's work has been aimed at demonstrating that the tuition-fee hikes were far from inevitable, despite claims made by the principals and the government. We have also laid out how this policy will increase student debt and be detrimental to attendance. At a more fundamental level, we have illustrated how this increase in fees participates in privatizing the financing, but also the mission of universities, a phenomenon which can be observed in <a href="http://www.iris-recherche.qc.ca/blogue/les-plus-bas-en-amerique-du-nord/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">most countries of the OECD</a>. By presenting higher education as both a lucrative personal investment and leverage to revitalize economic and capital growth, Québec's political and economic elites are bypassing the primary role of education: to develop critical autonomy and to transmit cultural and intellectual heritage.</p>
<p><strong>The strike: A historical weapon for the student movement</strong></p>
<p>In the <a href="http://www.cyberpresse.ca/debats/opinions/201201/31/01-4491201-droits-de-scolarite-seule-une-greve-generale-peut-stopper-la-hausse.php" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">history of Québec</a>, students have frequently turned to general strikes. It has proven to be the most efficient means of countering increases in tuition fees and defending both the accessibility and the public character of education. In the past, Québec has experienced eight general student strikes (including those of 1986, 1990, and 1996) for which the main objective was to impede tuition-fee hikes.</p>
<p>The most recent student strike, in the spring of 2005, reversed cuts to the financial-assistance program. At the time, <a href="http://www.socialistproject.ca/relay/relay16.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">around 185,000 higher-education students</a> joined in the strike movement, to which we must add the participation of numerous high school students. Unprecedented in both size and duration, this strike had gained <a href="http://www.ledevoir.com/non-classe/78254/73-d-appuis-aux-etudiants" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">strong support</a> within the population.</p>
<p>It remains to be seen who of the students or the government shall, this time, will be most convincing. Nonetheless, as Canadian households are choking on the grip of a record level of debt, the "investment" rhetoric put forward by the elite to dismantle public education and to pass the buck to families and individuals is unlikely to ring true. Presented as a business opportunity which secures a return on one's own human capital, the fee hike is quickly revealed to be just another strategy to get the poorest to pay for the crisis, this time by financing the new marketed university with the students' credit.</p>
<p><em>Eric Martin works with <a href="http://www.iris-recherche.qc.ca/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">IRIS</a>, a Montreal-based progressive think-tank. This article was first posted on <a href="http://www.behindthenumbers.ca/2012/02/27/quebec-students-strike-over-tuition-fee-hikes/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Behind the Numbers</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Dear rabble.ca reader... Can you <a href="https://secure.rabble.ca/supportrabble/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">support rabble.ca</a> by matching your mainstream media costs? Will you <a href="https://secure.rabble.ca/supportrabble/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">donate </a>a month's charges for newspaper subscription, cable, satellite, mobile or Internet costs to our independent media site?</em></p></div></div></div>Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:29:32 +0000Behind The Numbers90704 at http://rabble.caUnionizing studentshttp://rabble.ca/toolkit/guide/unionizing-students
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-20 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/toolkit/guides">Guides</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/toolkit/guide/unionizing-students"><img src="http://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/union.jpg?itok=ZdaIFg6f" width="1180" height="600" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Creating a student union is as tough as organizing in any other workplace. It also presents unique challenges. Building solidarity amongst students who come from all walks of life can be difficult. The size of the school can also be intimidating. How do you reach and unite all those people? It is possible.</p>
<p>Unions are more than student adovacy.They create service centres for specific student needs, rally against the adminstration and return power to the studnets. Whereas univerities and colleges have an easy time exploiting or oppressing individuals, students can make a difference if they band together. There are some great resource guides available for getting students organizing together.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Resources</strong></p>
<p>The Canadian Federation of Student's publication <a title="right to organise" href="http://cfsontario.ca/downloads/CFS-Right%20to%20Organise%20Brief.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Students' Right to Organise</a> is a good place to begin to figure out the logistics.</p>
<p>Jasper Conner has created <a title="unionizing universities" href="http://www.lizardelement.com/unionism/unionisminsidewebread.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">this guide on how to start unionizing universities.</a> The end goal is free, accessible education for all. Though designed for an American audience, the principles of organizing are the same.</p>
<p> </p>
</p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-22 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/indigenous-rights">Indigenous Rights</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/coalition">Coalition</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/lgbtiq">LGBTIQ</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/labour">Labour</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/anti-racism">Anti-Racism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/feminism">Feminism</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-9 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/unions">unions</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/24280">student activism</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/unionization">unionization</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/solidarity">solidarity</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/community-resistance">community resistance</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/university">university</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/students-movement">students&#039; movement</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-23 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/regions/ca">CA</a></div></div></div>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:24:45 +0000sppinch89959 at http://rabble.cahttp://rabble.ca/toolkit/guide/unionizing-students#commentsMobilizing studentshttp://rabble.ca/toolkit/guide/mobilizing-students
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-20 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/toolkit/guides">Guides</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/toolkit/guide/mobilizing-students"><img src="http://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/frontpage1_corey.jpg?itok=pzXlPE3g" width="1180" height="600" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Mobilizing students can be difficult. Throughout university student begin to question their beliefs and understandings of the world. Some may become activists, others might not see themselves as playing a role in a political context.</p>
<p>Just like other forms of public engagement, canvassing students start with crafting a good strong message and having an idea of who you want to attract. Advertise the specific skills needed in your campaign, i.e social media expert, event planner etc.</p>
<p>However the student environment can be tricky to navigate. Residence buildings offer a great opportunity to talk to many students in a short time.</p>
<p>The hard part is keeping students, especially first year university students engaged and mobilized about a cause. The <a title="SEAC" href="http://www.seac.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Student Environmental Action Coalition</a> has put together<a title="mobilizing students" href="http://www.seac.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Mobilizing_Students.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> this detailed guide about how to get students involved with your campaign</a> and keep them interested.</p>
<p> </p>
</p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-22 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/olympics">Olympics</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-9 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/mobilization">mobilization</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/24280">student activism</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/grassroots-organizing">grassroots organizing</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/students-movement">students&#039; movement</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-23 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/regions/ca">CA</a></div></div></div>Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:07:37 +0000sppinch89763 at http://rabble.cahttp://rabble.ca/toolkit/guide/mobilizing-students#commentsDrop the feeshttp://rabble.ca/toolkit/on-this-day/drop-fees
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-20 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/toolkit/on-this-day">On This Day</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/toolkit/on-this-day/drop-fees"><img src="http://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/Dropfees%28small%29_0.jpg?itok=1c3y9ZEN" width="1180" height="600" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>On February 1, the Drop the Fees campaign begins, supported by the <a title="CFS" href="http://www.cfs-fcee.ca/html/english/home/index.php" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Canadian Federation of Students</a>. Marked with large marches, demonstrations and protests, the campaign continues throughout the year.</p>
<p>The CFS works under the "one big union" model. This means that they think there is only so much even the most active student union can do. By having multiple student unions under their organization, they can pool resources and fight nationally for human rights. The CFS has a membership of more than half a million students and 80 student unions from across the country. They lobby the federal and provincial governments to reduce tuition fees and run student oriented campaigns and services, including the student health care network. Traditionally held in November, the date has been moved to the first of February.</p>
<p><strong>Student Fees</strong></p>
<p>It's not just a rumour - <a title="tuition fees" href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/2012/01/unsustainable-student-debt-threatens-future-generations-and-cana" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">tuition fees are way too high.</a></p>
<p>According to Statistics Canada, in the 2011/2012 academic year, undergraduate students are paying 4.3 per cent more on average than last fall for the same education. This is after the year before saw an increase of 4 per cent. This means in the last two years alone, tuition has skyrocketed almost 10 per cent on average. Undergrad students in Ontario pay some of the highest tuition fees in the country ($6 640 a year) followed closely by students in New Brunswick ($5 853 a year). Undergrads in Quebec have the lowest fees ($2 519) with students in Newfoundland and Labrador holding second place ($2 649).</p>
<p>Graduate students don't have it any better: the average tuition for a Canadian master's student is $5 599. These fees have also shot up since the year before, an increase of almost four per cent. International students are charged an average whopping $17 571 a year, up 10 per cent in the last two years. Universities are also tacking on more additional compulsory fees for students.</p>
<p>Newfoundland and Labrador have had their tuition fees frozen since 2005 and no longer have any interest on their student loans saving students almost two thousand dollars in interest. The freeze came about because of protests and inside lobbying from student organizations and the CFS. <a title="background to fees" href="http://www.cfs-fcee.ca/html/english/campaigns/background.php " target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tuition freezes have happened around the country</a> on and off since the nineties after the inception of the CFS.</p>
<p> With enough organization, determination and solidarity students can make university accessible for all Canadians.</p>
<p> </p>
</p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-22 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/indigenous-rights">Indigenous Rights</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/lgbtiq">LGBTIQ</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/labour">Labour</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/politics-canada">Politics in Canada</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/anti-racism">Anti-Racism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/civil-liberties-watch">Civil Liberties Watch</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/occupy">Occupy</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-9 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/24280">student activism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/grassroots-organizing">grassroots organizing</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/university">university</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/anti-capitalist-protest">anti-capitalist protest</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/students-movement">students&#039; movement</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-23 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/regions/ca">CA</a></div></div></div>Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:24:33 +0000sppinch89757 at http://rabble.cahttp://rabble.ca/toolkit/on-this-day/drop-fees#comments